Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vegetable cutters in general and, more particularly, to a cutting device for cutting deleaved and cored cauliflower heads into pieces of uniform size.
In processing cauliflower in particular, the head of the cauliflower is deleaved and then placed into a coring machine which cuts the stem off and removes the core from the cauliflower head. In the process of coring the cauliflower, a large percentage of the cauliflower is formed into large cauliflower pieces approximating the size of one's fist. Heretofore, these large pieces of cauliflower which are produced during the coring operation are cut smaller by hand or in cluster busters which are paddle-like beaters which tumble and break up the large pieces into smaller pieces suitable for packaging and sale to consumers. Besides requiring a substantial time for hand cutting the cauliflower pieces, not to mention the labor costs involved, hand cutting the cauliflower into smaller chunks of florets is a considerable safety hazard that results in occasional operator injury even when due care is exercised. Cluster busters or beater bars, while successfully breaking the cauliflower into smaller chunks, also create torn ends which drastically reduces the commercial quality of the cut cauliflower pieces.
An example of a patented cauliflower coring and floreting apparatus can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,470, issued to Console on Aug. 28, 1973. In this particular apparatus, cauliflower heads that have had their stems cut off are manually placed, top down, onto holding cups attached to a horizontally moving conveyor belt that moves cauliflower at a continuous rate toward a cauliflower coring and floreting station. The coring and floreting station comprises an overhead assembly and includes a rotating turntable carrying a pair of cutting and floreting head assemblies having rotating coring knives and beaters to break up the cauliflower into florets. The present invention is not concerned with cutting apparatus for coring cauliflower since use of the present invention will be after the cauliflower has been cored. Accordingly, the Console patent is similar to the devices used for coring the cauliflower presently in use, but is not similar to the present invention which utilizes a series of rotating knives positioned transversely across a moving conveyor to cut the cauliflower chunks into small pieces without the extensive use of beaters which, as previously mentioned, often damage the cauliflower to less than acceptable quality.